All signs point toward Jackson Arnold having to be great from the start
THE HOME OFFICE, Okla. — For Oklahoma’s first Southeastern Conference meet-up, media days in Dallas, which began Monday and included the Sooners on Tuesday, the most illustrative thing about the task OU faces may not have been the answers, but the questions.
Indeed, even if the 2024 season had just been one more foray into the conference the Sooners’ just left, we’d still be looking at a transformational season.
Like, oh, yeah, Brent Venables, if we’re to see Joe Jon Finley as an actual co-offensive coordinator, will be introducing three new coordinators into the fray in Finley and Seth Littrell offensively and barely 30-something Zac Alley defensively.
“I know there are coordinator changes and going into the SEC with coordinator changes, on paper, that sounds really daunting,” Venables said, “and in some ways that might be, but our relationships go back a long time … So I’ve had a different type of lens.”
Like, oh, yeah, even though his name’s been in our head forever, there’s a new starting quarterback in Jackson Arnold.
“Jackson understands better than anybody what goes into being a quarterback of a football team, of a locker room, the leader, the face, the responsibilities, the challenges,” Venables said. “What I feel best about and have the most peace about is his ability to be able to handle the highs and lows, the challenges, the success, the failure that a season will bring you.”
Like, oh, yeah, the offensive line is a serious work in progres.
“Wherever we’re at today, we’re focused on continuing to enhance that part of our team and to recruit more competitive depth,” Venables said. “But I really feel good that we have somewhere in that 9-to-11 range on the offensive line that are guys that can play winning football for us.”
Sounds reasonable, but he said he had 10 guys like that going into his six-win rookie season against middle-of-the-road Big 12 competition, so believe what you will.
Also, though it didn’t come up, the questions that did served to remind OU may be in a fix at running back, too.
Somehow, Gavin Sawchuk finished with 744 yards at 6.2 per carry last season, but I remain convinced Tawee Walker could have done more with the same opportunities, was easily the more physical back, but he’s gone and Sawchuk remains and the SEC, says everybody, is a very different animal than the Big 12.
All of which means …
Arnold better be terrific.
Maybe the ever-improving Sooner defense can come up with 20-17, 17-13, 19-14 and 13-10 victories, like it’s Iowa or something, but that seems unlikely.
More likely, the ticket to a big season, or even a decent one, is Arnold, who threw 69 passes all of last season, 45 of them at the Alamo Bowl, a 38-24 loss that included no Sooner points until the second quarter and three Arnold interceptions … as well as 24 unanswered Sooner points after OU fell behind 13-0.
It was a contest highlighted by every struggle a newbie quarterback might suffer as well as every success one might enjoy, given Arnold’s athletic gifts.
“After that Arizona game, there was a lot of maturing and a lot of growing up that I had to do,” Arnold said. “Stepping into that QB1 role, I had to be a real leader for us, for our team …
“The person I am now and the player I am now has improved drastically from where I was in that bowl game.”
It may not be fair to Arnold, but he’ll have to be.
It’s not like the program doesn’t have a bit of a history with first-time starting Sooner quarterbacks.
Jamelle Holieway took OU to a national championship after Troy Aikman went down in 1985.
Josh Heupel was pretty good in 1999 before placing second for the 2000 Heisman Trophy.
Sam Bradford was fabulous in 2007 before claiming the 2008 Heisman.
Baker Mayfield was even better upon finally becoming eligible in 2015.
Kyler Murray won the 2018 Heisman and Jalen Hurts finished runner-up a year later.
Yet, though all of that may be interesting, none of it may be meaningful.
None of those guys played for Venables, nor under the coordinator duo of Littrell and Finley.
Arnold, who completed 44 of 69 passes for 563 yards last season, will just have to find a way to be great.
Venables says he has the emotional equilibrium to be unaffected by the “highs and lows.”
Arnold, himself, says, “I’ve learned to be resilient … Just being resilient and being able to overcome that adversity was huge for me in the bowl game and will be again this fall.”
Neither, however, mentioned just how good, or great, Arnold will have to be.
He’ll have to have IT.
All those other guys did.
Nate Hybl, Paul Thompson, Landry Jones, Spencer Rattler, even Dillon Gabriel, mostly solid and good, even really good, did not.
It’s Arnold’s turn.
Greatness will be required.